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Olympics Swimming News Day 6: Aussie Dolphins Swim Team collect the one gold having fend off Team USA & China in the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final

by Sports Benches

So happy to see our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team collect the one gold thanks to an excellent team relay effort in the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Final. Love seeing Mollie O’Callaghan fire off comfortably into first while the returning Lani Pallister and Brianna Throsell held onto top spot along the way before Ariarne Titmus staved off a huge threat from Team USA & China en route towards an Aussie team gold. It might not be world record which was close but at least they did so well to keep their good lead intact, with Arnie unpacking the outstanding fire she really needs like to bring it home like her team-mate Mollie O.

Looking at the swimming Olympics medal tally now, we’re still first by one gold at a total of five so far ahead of Team USA with three days to go. Shoutout also to Liz Dekkers, who might have been languishing through the mid-pack for the most part off the back of a poor start, but the way she finished off the race wasn’t bad though where she moved her way up to 4th place towards the end in the Women’s 200m Butterfly Final. Sure there’s more to come from the 20-year-old to hopefully chase gold someday at future World Championships that can really translate into an Olympics gold come 2028 in Los Angeles, USA.

Now what have we got in stall to stop Team USA from winning this swimming medal tally tomorrow? We got Kaylee McKeown in the Women’s 200m butterfly Final as well as Cameron McEvoy in the Men’s 50m sprint after being the equal fastest alongside Team GB’s Ben Proud during his semi-final 2 meet earlier this morning. So two gold medals up for grabs as sure the Aussie Dolphins Swim Team can hang in there with McEvoy & our Queen of Backstroke in McKeown going into this weekend. 

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Olympics News: China’s Qinwen Zheng def. The Queen of Clay Iga Swiatek in straight sets en route to an Olympic Women’s Tennis Final

by Sports Benches

The Queen of Clay from Poland Iga Swiatek won’t be able to add another major honour other than her successive Roland Garros trophies in the Olympics gold medal this time around following her straight sets loss in the women’s singles semi-final v China’s Qinwen Zheng, who was also runner-up at the 2024 Australian Open Final back in January to Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, 2-6 & 5-7. She didn’t have a great start earlier on and although she did the best possible to keep that semi alive so Iga can activate that 3rd set decider, but it wasn’t meant to be when Zheng found a way to shut her down towards the end.

I don’t know when the next Olympics tennis tournament will be on clay but probably not for another long while like for a few decades unfortunately in which she may be well and truly reaching retirement by then. What she can do though is at least finish off on a high when it comes to the Bronze Medal Match this weekend v the losing player from the other semi-final.

We’ll see how that goes between Anna Karolina Schmiedlova from Slovakia v Croatian Donna Vekic who defeated NZ’s Lulu Sun during the Wimbledon Quarter-Final last month.

And how good was Qinwen Zheng with that magnificent performance in the hope of now winning her first major title that may not be a grand slam honour just yet but at least a Olympic Games Gold Medal would be nice to take home. She had an easy first set and while she had some challenges along the way that is going to make or break when being tested against the Queen of Clay (Iga Swiatek), she too never gave up with plenty of fight to hold Iga back and that was one thing Zheng pulled off well by seeing light at the end of the tunnel on what has been another of her best plays today. Now she’s ready to bring home an Olympics gold medal for China which she could be the first one to do so as a singles player and the last time China won a medal in Tennis was Li Ting & Sun Tiantian during the women’s doubles tournament exactly 20 years back in Athens.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: Kookaburras complete 5-0 demolition win v Black Sticks

by Sports Benches

We had a Trans-Tasman rivalry this time in the Men’s Olympic Games Field Hockey tonight coming from Stade-Yves-Du-Manoir Stadium in Paris between the Kookaburras and the Black Sticks. It was a quiet and scoreless first 15 to begin with but the Kookaburras have been absolutely destructive upfront with back-to-back goals in the 2nd 15 followed by another one in the 3rd quarter before they finished the game courtesy of a Blake Govers hat-trick masterclass as the final score was 5-0. That means, the Black Sticks won’t be able to advance into the Quarter-Finals with one game to go at 1am AEST Saturday v Ireland.

It’s not been their day today from the Black Sticks on what has been a brutal 5-0 loss as they still have yet to have taken the win in this tournament, even though they came here as outsiders. Sure, they defended really well off the back through a series of Kookaburras’ missed opportunities while denying access at their own end that leads to a couple of good attempts on the counter-attack. They just couldn’t find the middle ground when it comes to these conversions unfortunately including a few winning penalties and when you lack numbers, there’s no way the Black Sticks can give themselves a fighting chance to rattle Andrew Charter where they were toothless in that attacking department alone. All they can do now is finish off on a high v Ireland who is most certainly leaving the group stages early in 5th right now and yet Ireland are also winless so far either.

And great to see the Kookaburras respond to that unfortunate 6-2 loss yesterday v Belgium with a 5-0 win v the Black Sticks with one game to go tomorrow night at 9.15pm v India. One way to describe their performance – strong and powerful. This was exactly what the Kookaburras has done every time they harried the Black Sticks defenders with a lot of ball that led to back-to-back 2nd x 15 mins goals followed by a succession of goals throughout the 2nd half including two from penalty corners before they are well and truly secure & yet they didn’t stop attacking as if they’re preparing for fightback against a top team like Belgium to see how it’s done. There’s unfinished business here having finished 2nd to them at the last Olympics tournament in Tokyo, Japan four years ago, a win v India would hopefully open up an extended run to go all the way in Paris.

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Olympics Soccer News: The Matildas campaign came crashing down early following their 2-1 loss v USWNT coupled with Canada’s 1-0 win v Colombia for the two of the best third-place teams 

by Sports Benches

So gutted to hear that the Matildas won’t be able to roar into the Quarter-Finals this time around unfortunately at Paris 2024 as they won’t be able to play any further now that the Quarter-Final teams are set without them.

It’s not the match the Matildas wanted when they were really struggling to get a grasp out of the mighty USA’s WNT side all along with a few scoring opportunities here & there to try and stay in contention off the back of their opening game loss v Germany (3-1) followed by a near scare comeback win v Zambia (6-5) the other day. Not even though a late goal by Alannah Kennedy wasn’t enough in the 92th minute to stop them from at least settling the score with the 2-1 loss before Canada’s 1-0 win over Colombia a few hours later has left the Matildas out of the cold based on the best Top 2 of 3rd-placed teams.

Oh Canada haven’t we been kind when you’ve been out there eliminating the Aussies left, right and centre across multiple sports including the Medal women’s semi-final in the Rugby 7s the other day and now it’s happening in Soccer. They too are going into the last 8 instead v the Matildas’ Group B opponents who won from the 3-1 opening game nearly a week ago in Team Germany.

Congrats to USA with the win who has been dominant across the pitch where they were able to get away of two goals out a possible 20 throughout the match v Matildas. Sure, they’re a really young side that is going to take time when a few experienced heads like Alex Morgan aren’t there to play in Paris by now head coach Emma Hayes, who coached Sam Kerr recently at Chelsea prior to her post there this summer. However, they know what it takes to go all the way before having last won gold there back in 2012 in London, as their journey continues in the last 8 v Japan at Parc De Princes this weekend.

Meanwhile, Aussie sports fans really wanted the Matildas to do well so bad based on their breakthrough run at the Women’s World Cup last year on home soil. But then no Sam Kerr when she’s out right now due to an ACL knee injury has really hit them hard that would’ve set them the difference of making into the knockout stages and having to experience elimination once the early-rounds are over like they have to go through right now.

They had a few chances on the counter-attack to try and extract some from USWNT’s missed shots towards goal but then the defense had a really tough time in the office to say for the most part including star keeper Mackenzie Arnold that allowed themselves to slipped away with two lost goals to their opponents across both halves. Plus, a few ill-disciplines and offsides didn’t help their cause much either I’m afraid that forced USA’s hand a few times and there goes that poor result & eventually their Olympics campaign that early too.

Now the Tillies better need to move onto the next task to regroup themselves from there by building on their stunning growth that won the hearts of many Aussie sports fans. The question happening right now will Tony Gustavsson be around after this as head coach who oversaw the Matildas over these last few roller-coasting years?  Time will tell, even when Sam Kerr will eventually be back from her long ongoing ACL injury at some point.

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Olympics Swimming News: Kyle Chalmers & Zac Stubblety-Cook the only two silver medalists for the Aussie Dolphins Swim Team in Day 5 at Paris La Defense Arena

by Sports Benches

Well, no gold medals on Day 5 from the Aussie Dolphins Swim Team, but at least they are still leading the Olympics swimming medal tally by just one gold medal ahead of Team USA, who currently has three in the bag with four days to go.

First of all, it wasn’t the swim both Mollie O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack wanted in the women’s 100m Freestyle Final where they finished 4th & 5th respectively. Now this is Mollie O’s first Olympics for those who wants to jump the gun on her with high expectations to walk away for the gold as she didn’t have a good start. Although she was not far towards the end of the wall when it comes to an outside shot for the Top 3, but at least nowhere near the record time ahead of everyone I guess. 

The same goes to Shayna having gone from a long, long way via her two-year doping ban before she was able to swim competitively once again a few years ago where she’s an excellent team player. She too maybe within reach at least the Top 3 at one stage especially in the 1st 50m but then she was languishing towards the back end during the last 50m half sprint.

If 1-2 medals would make you smile for the Aussies, how about “The King” Kyle Chalmers who finished 2nd in the Men’s 100m Freestyle Final sprint, as well as Zac Stubblety-Cook (also a silver medalist) in the Men’s 200m breaststroke Final.

For Stubblety-Cook, you can’t overcome winning such a strong French crowd where Leon Le Marchand won that race comfortably with the gold medal. However, at least he was within the Top 3 radar all along which wasn’t bad. The only thing he could’ve done better that Zac just couldn’t close down on the Frenchman when he was around two secs off the pace there. 

And long live King Kyle with another Olympic gold, even though he fell short to China’s Pan Zhanle who dominated this meet with the new world record time. It wasn’t an easy race when you got so many world-class swimmers alongside him, especially when he didn’t have the best of starts. He did have the best finish though where it might not be enough to catch Zhanle on time by just 1 second but boy happy to see him collect the silver.

So where to now going into Day 6? Looks like there will be two gold medal opportunities up for grabs for the Aussies in the of holding onto this Olympic swimming medal tally. One will be both Liz Dekkers and Abbey Connor in the Women’s 200m Butterfly Final and the other would possibly be the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Team Relay events.

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Field Hockey: Hockeyroos continue their winning start to their Olympics run this time with a 3-0 clean sweep v Team USA

by Sports Benches

So there you have it, the Hockeyroos have continued their winning run to the Paris 2024 campaign with the 3-0 clean sweep victory against Team USA. Great to see Renee Taylor on the mark for the team’s early goal while Alice Arnott added another right on half-time & although nothing much happened in the 3rd 15, but Maddison Brooks safeguarded the match for their 3rd goal with seven mins to go.

They will be back against Argentina Friday morning at 4.15am AEST on what is going to be a top-of-the-table clash in Pool B while Team USA will be playing next a few hours beforehand against Great Britain.

So far, so good from the Hockeyroos on what has been another excellent display tonight, such as their dominant possession of the ball that fed them plenty of final third opportunities including a few winning penalties – in which was successful a few times. Plus, their defense never looked out of place all along, having protected themselves well to stop the ball from slipping away that allows them to throw towards the other end for the best opportunities possible. Now they will need to keep this up in the hope of getting over the line next against a top Argentine team.

And commiserations to Team USA with the loss off the back of their brilliant defensive play including from the keeper and the way they attack on the counter such as these brilliant breaks towards the attacking third across the pitch. One thing for sure though is if they simply lack the finishing quality needed to rattle around Jocelyn Bartram and her defenders who wouldn’t give them a free pass & that was a huge weakness they couldn’t grasp unfortunately tonight v the Hockeyroos.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: Kookaburras overcome a resilient defensive Ireland team following a tight arm wrestle with the 2-1 win

by Sports Benches

What a tight arm wrestle between the Kookaburras and Ireland to start the weekday Olympics week in Field Hockey at Stade Yves Du Manoir Stadium. The Kookaburras won the first 15 mins off a penalty corner and so does Ireland during the 2nd 15th also from a winning penalty corner for some time before Kookaburras got one back via a penalty stroke right on half-time 2-1.

Despite some serious efforts from both teams during the 2nd half to try and settle the score for themselves, the score remained 2-1 where both teams walked away without a goal over the last 2 x 15 minute periods, with the Kookaburras taking home yet another win off the back of their good start v Argentina the other day (1-0) in their 2024 Olympics campaign.

Now the Kookaburras will take on Belgium next on Wednesday morning at 3.45 am AEST while Ireland will need their full support from their passionate supporters this time v India tomorrow night at 9.15pm AEST.

Yeah, it’s a tough pill to swallow from Ireland who were really impressive all along mainly in defense including another strong showing from the keeper David Harte while they had some attacking moments on the counter where Ireland got away with one good successful penalty corner goal conversion in the 2nd 15. But one thing that let Ireland down is their conversions with shots being overcooked as well as hit and misses for the most part that gave the Kookaburras the chance to try and extend their lead with more ball on the pitch. Although they’ve done one part right which is stopping the Kookaburras from scoring in open play as liked how Ireland unpacked their defensively trickery when going up against a dangerous Kookaburras attack, but what Ireland needs to do is cross more ball into the middle that will make their counter-attack look electrifying.

Food for fought there as Ireland will not give any team a free run with an excellent squad, coaching staff and its supporters.

Meanwhile, glad to see the Kookaburras escape Ireland’s really strong backline thanks to these winning penalties where two of their goals came from there – one was a penalty corner while another was a penalty stroke. For a start, they were really good in possession so they can catch Ireland off-guard and they did at times through the break to try and distract David Harte when it comes to these attempts towards goal. What they should’ve done is to make their attack bit more expansive in open play and that might have helped the Kookaburras a thing or two to steer clear past Ireland since their 2nd half play was scrappy where both teams walked away without a goal. But a win is a good win though since it was enough to close out Ireland towards the end there like it was against Argentina during the opening game two days ago and all the Kookaburras need to do now is not just always press with the ball in possession but also bring more in-circle time to score a few goals as well.

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Olympics Soccer News: Matildas fresh faces off the bench saved the day with the 6-5 win v Zambia this morning in Nice

by Sports Benches

Looking at the half-time score, yes, the Matildas or Tillies have scored some goals which wasn’t bad to see for a start. But they are still two goals behind Zambia when it comes to the overall lead. 

It’s not looking good from here unfortunately off the back of their opening game loss v Germany the other day before Opening Ceremony Friday 3-0. So 7 goals conceded so far in this Olympic tourney and all they need to do now is hopefully turn this around to make it 4-4 all draw or a 5-4 win. 

That way, they can still be in the running to play knockout football ahead of their next game v Team USA mid-week.

Wow!! Anything can happen that quick in soccer when the game wasn’t over with one x 45 done from behind to wrapping up the other 45 mins with the 6-5 win. We thought it was game over when Zambia extended their lead to five not long after half-time thanks to a free-kick that went against them. Fortunately, a few fresh faces from the bench by coach Tony Gustavsson have made a big difference though being led by veteran forward Michelle Hayman & Arsenal women’s No.9 Caitlin Foord.

The Tillies were able to gain more control of the ball where plenty of shots were flying everywhere towards the keeper. Although another quick goal attempt was denied via the VAR, but they still mean business thanks to these winning free-kicks including a 5th straight penalty kick by Steph Catley before Heyman scored the 6th and winning goal on what has been an unreal comeback for the win.

Fair play to Zambia with their really good first half performance that gave our Matildas a hard time along the way including their extended lead for a bit longer. But a couple of defensive mistakes including from the keeper forced their hand to the Tillies where they could’ve still hold onto the lead had the ball not been mistaken into the net. And unfortunately, Zambia just couldn’t shy from the quality the Tilles had to offer before it was too late as the clock ticks down with the game-finishing loss. I’m sure they will come back stronger next time.

All the Matildas have to do now is be at their best v Team USA and as long as New Zealand lose to France at the same time mid-week, then they will get a 2nd chance in the Quarter-Finals. 

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Olympics News: The Paris 2024 games now open with the first lot of sports set to start later tonight over the next two weeks across Paris and even Tahiti for Surfing

by Sports Benches

It might be full of pouring and showering rain last night but what a show it was nonetheless to officially launch the 33rd Summer Olympics edition across Paris’s iconic landmarks including the Louvre and the river seine rather than the Olympic Stadium (which would be Stade De France but will still host the closing ceremonies though) itself as usual.

Gotta love the arts and culture they’ve got including a bit of Despicable Me before you throw in the fashion, the athletes parade of each nation through the river where they’ve made it in front of the Eiffel Tower, and last but not least the Olympic flame being lit as the cauldron has already taken lift off like a hot air balloon. 

Now let the games begin with two weeks of action as it’s up to these athletes competing there to make a name for themselves that would wow the entire world when it comes to chasing gold.

First up tonight is Swimming, Field Hockey,  Diving, Basketball and of course Rugby 7s Men’s semi final between Australia v Fiji alongside. many other sports being held across Paris. Although Olympic surfing surfing will be held many miles away over in Tahiti that will begin first thing tomorrow morning at 3am AEST. Let’s see what the Australian Olympic Team has got including our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team in the hope of dominating this pool v Team USA like it was at the World Champs last year.

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Olympics News: Germany too good to kickstart the group stage in Marseille 3-0 as the Matildas now need to regroup against Zambia and Team USA over the next week

by Sports Benches

It wasn’t been the start our Matildas team wanted yesterday with the 3-0 loss v Germany but we do need to move on with Zambia up next on 3am Monday AM followed by Team USA also 3am Thursday morning. A 2nd placed finish would be nice considering how much the Tillies improved over these past few years including the 2023 Women’s World Cup, but scoring more goals from here including a possible draw or a close loss v Team USA might be enough to play depending on how good they are for the best of third like it was in Tokyo four years ago. That way, they can come from behind to play Finals again.

Credit to Germany who played really well with their dominant possession-based & expansive attack, having made good use of their corners by Giulia Gwinn that landed into the net twice (1 goal in the opening 45 & another goal later in the 2nd half) followed by a third goal via 1-2 touch from Jule Brand. One thing they need to watch though is their discipline that gave the opposition the opportunity to cash in where Germany overstepped the mark at times that could’ve been an extra 1-2 goals had the referee/VAR not ruled it as offside, etc. But so far, so good as the Germany women’s team need their full support all over France like they had at the 2016 Olympics in Rio across Brazil where they won the gold medal there v Sweden 2-1.

And for the Matildas, they tried their best to get the job done at times on the counter-attack both through open play and free-kicks as well as corners. However, they were nowhere near closer towards goal in an effort to strike one back past the keeper when it comes to the executions unfortunately. Plus, their defence has been sloppy at times including lost corners where Germany had a great sniff at them for the most part – no matter how many times Germany tries to shoot towards goal, which was too good for them to walk away with the win. This is a display the Matildas should’ve done better as if it’s their Final but getting over Zambia and hopefully a new-look Team USA side would hopefully give them a 2nd chance to play for an extended run in the knockout finals. Who knows? But they better avoid elimination first going into this weekend & next week.

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